


DCnU

by PrincessAmericaChavez



Category: Batman (Comics), DCU, DCU (Comics)
Genre: Batfamily Feels, F/M, Fix-It-Fic, Gen, New 52, Pre-New 52, batfamily
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-11-14
Updated: 2015-05-22
Packaged: 2018-01-01 14:28:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 11,492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1045038
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrincessAmericaChavez/pseuds/PrincessAmericaChavez
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“The DCnU is a warped dimension, pulling people out of the DCU and wiping their memories, forcing them into new lives. The people missing from the DCnU managed to escape or were never forced into the illusion in the first place, are desperately working to bring the other back into the DCU reality. Anyone who perishes, or is transformed beyond recognition has been successfully pulled back into the DCU, their DCnU identity either dying, or falling into a new persona without the original copy still inhabiting the DCnU body. Eventually the DCnU will be dissembled completely, and the DCU restored with everyone successfully removed from the alternate twisted reality. The most recent person retrieved from the DCnU was Damian Wayne, who was rescued by Cass Cain, Stephanie Brown and Tim Drake in the DCU, the two former having never been sucked in and the latter managing to separate himself completely from his DCnU persona, causing it to become a twisted image of himself, and return to the DCU to aid in the restoration of it’s population.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Awakening

**Author's Note:**

> Based on a post made by taralys.tumblr.com

He breaths heavily, with the feeling of drowning still lingering in his chest.  
  
Around him, he can feel several people, gazing down at him. With one swift movement, he stands up, guard up, ready to attack.

"Easy, kid," he hears a voice next to him. It’s a girl’s voice, and it sounds oddly familiar.

He turns towards her and finds a blond teenager. She reaches a hand towards his shoulder, which he blocks automatically. He looks around but he doesn’t recognize the place. This is not the Wayne Industries Building.

 

"Damian," she says.

Suddenly, he realizes he’s not wearing his uniform, nor his mask.

"Who are you? Where am I? Where is my father?" he demands.

"Listen, Damian, I need you to calm down," says a male voice next to him, finally one he can perfectly identify.

“‘tt’ Drake,” he turns and faces him.

Timothy Drake, his so-called adoptive brother, stands calmly next to him. He looks exhausted. Damian frowns. That makes no sense. He had seen him dressed as Red Robin barely seconds ago, fighting Leviathan alongside the rest of Batman Incorporated. 

"What is going on?" he demands to know. "What are we doing here? We have to help my Father —"

Drake lets out a heavy sight that cuts him short. Timothy might not be the brightest bulb in the box, but he wasn’t one to ignore Batman’s orders either.

"Alright, Damian, if you want to help Bruce I need you to listen to me and do as I say."

"Why should I follow your orders, Drake?"

"I had forgotten how annoying he can be," the blond girl mutters standing next to Drake.

"Don’t you dare—"

"What’s the last thing you remember, Damian?" Drake interrupts.

Even when he doesn’t want to, his mind betrays him. He remembers Leviathan, his mother, his father, his clone, saving Grayson, and then… then he remembers a sword going through his chest. He shivers, instinctively taking both hands towards his chest. There is no hole, no wound, no scar.

He let’s out a shaky breath and looks at Drake and the blond girl standing next to him. The sadness in their eyes enrages him. They  _know_  what is going on.

"We will explain everything, I promise," Drake says," but you need to calm down first."

“‘tt’ I am calmed down,” he lies. “Now, tell me.”


	2. Looking Back

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tim explains the current situation of the DCU and the DCnU to Damian, who has to come to terms with his own death in the DCnU reality.

"So, you are trying to tell me that the past two years of my life have been a lie," Damian says while crossing his arms.

"More or less," Tim says shrugging his shoulders. "You technically lived them, but in a different reality. The same one everyone is trapped on."

“‘tt’” Damian frowns. “And now I’m back because I—”

He stops himself from finishing.

"You  _died_  in that reality  _because_  we managed to pull you out,” he feels the need to point it out because, one way or an other, Damian is a ten year old and he’s probably pretty shaken after experiencing his own death.

 

Tim looks at the silent kid infront of him. It’s a lot to digest, he knows it.

He managed to disconnect himself from that reality’s alter-ego barely a few months ago. All along, while being there, he had the feeling something wasn’t right. He missed something he didn’t even remember. Finally, after the Joker’s last strike he realized something was wrong. There was no way anyone would have had enough time to pull such an elaborated plan within such a short time-span. His detective skills kicked in, not letting him sleep or eat for weeks without thinking about it. It was the same kind of “intuition” that had kept him from believing that Bruce was death four years ago. Until one night he heard Stephanie in his sleep. Her voice was kind and familiar and seemed like the only thing that actually made sense. He only remembers following it, until he appeared in the same bat-cave they are at right now.

"And they are all in there," Damian mutters looking at the huge white empty vortex in the wall.

"Kinda," Tim says, not wanting to explain something he doesn’t quite understand, "Babs explains it better."

"Batgirl?"

"Oracle."

"I think I remember that," Damian says looking confused.

"It’ll come back eventually," he assured him. "Anyway, she figured out a frequency with which we can see what they see. It’s hard to find the right one but—"

"Show me," Damian demands.

"I don’t think right now is the best moment. You  _just_  came back like a few minutes ago and—”

"Show me  _now_ , Drake,” the young Robin says, grabbing his shoulders angrily.

Instead of shoving him off, as he usually would, Tim lets out a sight and agrees to do so. His fingers start dancing through the keyboard. He enters one of the only combinations he knows by heart: his own.

He doesn’t quite understand how time runs in that reality (where Batman managed to have four Robins in five years), but they seem to still be in the middle of the Leviathan fight.

Tim and Damian see through the former’s eyes how Batman held the bloodied body of his son. They see him let out a cry of rage and charge against his killer.

Tim has his eyes fixated in his adoptive father as he fights, letting himself go. He is worried death, they are not ready yet. If Bruce dies now, he doesn’t think they will be able to bring him back. With Damian they saw it coming, his mother had been plotting pretty heavily towards it. With Bruce…

He feels an elbow hitting his ribs.

"Hey! What was that f—?"

"What do you think you are doing?" Stephanie whispers shooting a worried look at Damian.

Only then, Tim is able to look away from Bruce. Damian is looking somewhere else, at his own lifeless body. Tim feels terribly guilty. Then, he realizes Damian starts walking towards the screen. A constant mutter grows stronger every second:

"No, no, no."

It’s Dick, stumbling towards Damian’s body. Looking at him hurts Tim, as usual. He misses him a lot. Damian’s face seems conflicted.

"This isn’t happening," Dick says falling to his knees. "He was  _okay_  just a minute ago. What just  _happened_?”

The pain in his voice is so gut wrenching that Tim feels suddenly overwhelmed by it. 

"Okay, enough," Barbara declares turning the screen off.

How long has she been there? There are tears in her eyes, as every time she sees Dick through the screen. Tim finally snaps out of it. So does Damian.

"What are you doing? Turn it back on!" the kid demands.

"Sorry, Damian, but I don’t think its a good idea—"

"No! I don’t care! Let me see them!"

"Damian—"

Before Stephanie can say anything else, the kid runs away. Tim thinks he hears him sob. She starts following him. 

"Let him go," Barbara says. "He’s gotta let it sink in."

"He is gonna be fine," Tim assures her, putting a hand on Steph’s shoulder.

"What in the world were you thinking, Tim?" Barbara asks.

"I—" he tries, but nothing comes out. 

Ok, it was a bad idea.


	3. Fierce Redheads.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Damian finds out about certain tensions between the Batfamily and it’s allies.

When Damian finally steps out of his room, it’s late at night. The Manor is silent, which is nothing new nor surprising. He walks down the stairs, listening to the wood crack under his feet.

He hates that he couldn’t help crying, although it was barely for a few moments. The rest of the time, he spent trying to come to terms with what he had learned. 

The empty and cold hallways bring many memories to him. 

 _"Robin, look_ there _ **.** It’s like the whole _house _is coming to_  life **.”**

_"You’re a freak."_

How long ago had that been? Two, three years? Back then, he had been specially worried about his father’s return. About loosing Grayson as his partner, although he never said it. He tried to imply it that same day a couple of times, but Grayson was so overly eager about finding Bruce, he had barely payed attention to it. 

He walks towards the clock and sets the hour. As soon as the secret passage opens, he can hear the voices echoing in the walls. As he descends, they become clearer.

"What do you mean it is not him?" a female voice asks. "You said—"

"I know what I said," the voice of Batgirl (Oracle, whatever), says, "but the code didn’t work as we planned. The battle took another turn."

"So you were wrong," the other snaps coldly. 

"I  _told you_  we had a code ready. I said I  _hoped_  it would be Dick coming back this time. I didn’t say…”

"I don’t care! Dick has been there for almost two years now!"

"Like everyone else! As much as I’d like to, we can’t prioritize —"

"Of course we can! With any excuse! He was the leader of the League! He was  _batman_! If you actually cared you would—”

"Don’t you  _dare_  tell me I don’t care about him!” Barbra shouted.

At this point, Damian has finally come down the narrow stairs. Nobody takes a notice of him.

A woman stands straight infront of Barbara, her feet a few inches above the ground. Her skin has an orange tone, her red hair glows like fire and her eyes are glowing green. Everything about her shouts that she’s ready to go to battle.

Damian readies himself to defend Oracle, although her fierce expresion suggest she doesn’t need protection. 

"Alright, that’s  _enough_ ,” a man appears between them, “you know Babs is doing her best, Kory. We all want to bring him back. Bring  _all of them_  back. But we gotta stay in this together.” _  
_

Damian blinks surprised. His uniform is The Flash’s but his heigh, his built and his voice are completely off.

"But you  _wasted_  that code,” Kory says, lowering her voice. “You had been working on it for months. Now, we will need to start all over again and hope we are on time if anything happens.”

"We didn’t  _waste_ that code,” Barbara correct her,”if you were listening you’d know we brought Damian back.” _  
_

He freezes when he hears his name.

"You brought the kid back?" a third female voice asks.

A woman flies towards them and puts a hand on Kory’s shoulder. She has long black hair and a star-printed black body suit. Compared to the other two, she seems much more clamer and in control.

"Kid? How dare you, Harlot," Damian blurts automatically. 

Suddenly, he remembers them. Starfire, Kid Flash (or Flash now, whatever), Troya. Kory, Wally, Donna. He had met them before, and Grayson never shut up about them. 

Donna turns and faces him. First she looks offended, then surprised. 

"Good to have you back, Damian," she smiles. 

"Good to be back, I guess," he adds the last part under his breath. 

"I have to go," Starfire says, flying towards the stairs. 

On her way, she stops by Damian. Still floating, she puts a hand on his shoulder.

Now, he remembers meeting her on “the other world”, and although she looks exactly the same, her eyes, her voice and her movements are completely different. She seems more focused, more passionate, more intelligent and deep. Her presence is strong, and bright on the room. Compared to her, the version he had met a few weeks ago was but an empty shell.

"I am glad you are alright, Damian," she says. Her eyes are full of melancholy, her voice full of feelings he can’t quite make out.

She flies away without another word, leaving a trail of light and fire behind her.

"I’ll go check on her," Donna says, flying after her.

Once they leave, Barbara looses her fierce look. She hides her face between her palms and lets out a heavy sight.

"It’s okey, Babs," Wally says, putting both hands over her shoulders.

"No, they are right, I should be working harder on—"

"If you worked any harder it would kill you," he cuts her off. "And then Dick would kill  _me_  for letting you. When was the last time you got any sleep?”

"It doesn’t matter. Just let me work a little longer, ok?"

"Fine, but I’m staying around."

Damian finally gets to the screen and is ready to ask Barbara to turn it on. He is ready.

"I don’t need a babysitter," she complains to Wally, who has taken of the mask unrevealing a mess of red hair.

"No, but  _he_ does,” he grins at Damian.

"What? I don’t —"

"C’mon kid, lets see what’s in the kitchen. I’m starving," he says graving him and speeding off. 

Before Damian can argue, they are in the Manor’s kitchen. 

"How dare you, you —"

"She needed space."

“‘tt’ Do  _that_  again, I’ll brake your face,” he mutters.

"You’d have to catch me first," Wally mumbles with his mouth full of food.

He swallows loudly and offers Damian a bag of chips the kid accepts reluctantly only because he’s starving. Wally’s face falls suddenly serious.

"Ok, knock it off, Damian," he interrupts, already with big stack of food in his arms. "I need you to tell me about it."

"About what?"

"That place where you were. I want to know how everyone is doing and what’s going on. Dick, Barry, Bruce, Tim, Bart," he doubts a moment before saying, "you haven’t happen to meet a reporter named Linda, have you?"

Damian shakes his head.

"Of course," Wally mutters sadly. "Alright, lets get started. Tell me about how much everybody misses me."

 


	4. The Difference Between Here and There.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tim and Damian bond over lost Robins and ridiculous deaths.

"Look, it’s not my fault what  _he_ does!” Tim cries, giving up his self-control.

"Uh-hum," Stephanie replies sarcastically without looking away from her waffles.

Tim groans and walks out of the kitchen, knowing his girlfriend is way too headstrong for him to win this argument right now. 

_Stupid clon. Stupid alterante Tim Drake making out with his teammates. Stupid Damian watching the family’s lives 24/7._

Alright, the kid has been through some rough stuff lately. They all have. But watching the way everyone he lefts behind reacts to his “death” is far from healthy. Over the course of the week, Damian’s been watching them all, hearing them, seeing them mourn him. Tim was specially embarrassed when he saw his alterante self talking alone and hugging the air melodramatically, so he had left the room right before Stephanie saw a few things —that were completely out of his control— happen. Now, of course, she is mad.

 

Tim sights before entering the bat-cave. He blinks and looks at the clock before putting the hour in the exact time Bruce’s parents died and changed all of their destinies. He didn’t come here on purpose, he was just wondering around, but the cave is the only place where he can think clearly lately. Somehow, he feels closer to Bruce and Dick there, as if they were guiding him. 

 _What a stupid idea, Tim,_ he thinks to himself while walking down the stairs.

"Sorry… I’m not really good at this. And if you were here I’m sure you’d point that out, too," it’s Dick’s voice coming from the cave, but at this point hearing it doesn’t surprise Tim as much. Damian spends a lot of time checking on him. “‘You know, Grayson," Dick says imitating Damian’s voice, "one of the  _perks_ of being dead is that I can’t hear you…’ or something.”

“‘tt’ You are right about that, Grayson,” Damian snorts,”you are most definitively lame at mourning my memory. It is not only unnecessary but useless. You are disgracing both of us by letting your physical condition decay this much. It is reckless. How are you going to protect father? Or yourself?”

Tim’s heart brakes a little when he hears Damian talking to the screen. The kid can really get on his nerves sometimes, but at the end of the day he is just another Robin. And Dick is  _his_ Batman. Even though he would never admit it, Damian is probably just as lost as he had been when Bruce died. As he is now. Right now, they are just two lost Robins. 

"I  _loved_ you,” Dick says, and he sounds as broken as he had when Bruce died. “And I wish… I just wish… Aw man…” he chokes down some tears before finally blurting out, “I just  _wish_ I could have been there for you the way you were there for me.”

"Don’t be ridiculous, Grayson," Damian snarks almost instantly, "you  _were_ there, right next to me. There was just nothing you could have done. Please, stop doing this…”

The kid sounds so desparte, Tim feels guilty for walking in on him like this. So he stomps on the last steps, making sure to make his presence clear before he steps in. 

"I just want you to know Stephanie wont talk to me and I blame it on you," Tim says casually while walking in. 

"If Brown can not differentiate  _that_  world from reality, it is  _her_  problem, not mine,” Damian says bluntly without looking away from the screen.

Tim walks towards his adoptive brother, when he looks at the screen he catches a glimpse of Dick’s reflection on a glass.

"Man! Dick looks terrible," he blurts without thinking.

Immediately he regrets it. Damian doesn’t even acknowledge the comment.

"So," Tim says, leaning his back on the keyboard and sitting facing Damian, "how is everyone else doing?"

"Well, Father seems to be doing as well as you might expect."

"So, terrible."

"Indeed. He is brooding more than usual and reckless and violent —which I personally aprove of, but I believe  _he_ does not. At least Alfred is back now, I just wish Father was not blaming him for my departure.”

"Don’t worry. Bruce loves Alfred, he just needs someone to blame it on. Besides, if he learned anything from Jason’s death he won’t let himself get lost again."

"Now that you mention it, Todd sure seems to be enjoying some kind of rekindling with my father right now," Damian comments with a hint of spite in his voice. "Fake-batgirl has big load of trouble I couldn’t care less about. Your alterante self is still errant between evil, psychopathic and plane stupid behavior. And Grayson, well he is… you saw it yourself."

Tim sights.

"Whoever created this reality must really hate Dick."

"Explain yourself."

"Well, you may not know this because you don’t seem to appreciate any kind of emotional relationship, but for Dick his friends have always been his greatest strengt. He was the persone everyone trusted, he had links with practically everyone. Now, he’s lost."

"I do not understand what you mean, Drake. Grayson is not alone. He has Father, and Alfred, even fake-Batgirl."

"That’s just the family, and half of them are fake. Think about it. Donna, Wally and Garth, his oldest friends, don’t even exist there. Roy and fake-Starfire are running around with Jason Todd, and she doesn’t even remember him. Fake-Babs ignores him. Superman doesn’t know him… Then his circus burns down, and he is mad at Bruce… I’m afraid that your death may be the last straw for him. I don’t know who he can lean on anymore. I’m worried about him."

Sometimes, he forgets Damian is a kid. He is so mature, and serious, and agressive, that Tim forgets he is a ten year old. Maybe that’s why he talks too much around him even though he still doesn’t trust him completely. Maybe it is because he’s been back for a while and Barbara is always bussy, and Steph isn’t completely friendly to him yet, and Cass is so quiet, and he misses Conner and Cassie and Bart. Whatever the reason, he just let out one of the heaviest worries he has had lately on the shoulders of a kid who is probably already more fragile than himself. 

 _Good one, Tim_.

"You are underestimating him," Damian finally says. "Grayson has been through worst things. He will be alright. Eventually."

"You are right, he probably will," Tim says, trying to sound hopeful.

They look as Dick shaves and leaves his apartment. He already looks fresher and happier. Maybe things will be alright.

"I still think you are an incompetent for not bringing him back yet," Damian says.

"It’s not that easy, Damian. I’ve told you so. You have to find the right moment, and the right code, and the right universe… Did you know there are thousands of realities out there?"

"You are kidding."

"No, I’m not. Some of them are ridiculous… I was looking at a random one this one time, and you… Youknowwhatnevermind."

"I  _what_?”

"Never mind, Damian."

"Tell me, Drake."

"No, forget it."

"You can tell me now, or I can torture the information out of you."

They look at each other straight in the eye. Tim doesn’t know whether to believe him or not. There’s no doubt Damian  _could_ do it, he is probably wishing it. 

"Alright," he sighs. "In this reality, you kill him. Dick."

"What?! No! I wouldn’t. I couldn’t. I would never—"

"Except you do. In  _that_ reality. I’m not saying—”

"You are lying. I would never do that. I may threaten to, but I would never actually—"

"Damian, listen to me. I know you wouldn’t. Don’t even worry about it. It’s a stupid reality anyway. Like, Superman  _kills._ He goes nuts and turns evil. It’s nonsense.”

"That is fairly ridiculous," Damian agrees. "How does it happen?"

"Well, I’m not sure. I think it was the Joker. I think Lois died, and that she was pregnant. It is really sad."

"That is not what I meant. How did Grayson die?"

"Well, hum, you threw a stick to him, hit him in the head. He tripped, fell on a rock and broke his neck."

Damian looks him death in the eye. He blinks a couple times and stares wide-eyed. Tim doesn’t know if he should be worried for him or for himself. Then, out of nowhere, Damian mutters:

"Grayson, Dick Grayson. Nightwing. Batman. An acrobat.  _Tripped_  and was killed by a rock.”

Tim nods, still frozen. 

“ _By a rock_.”

"Yes."

Then, Damian laughs. It is not his evil laugh, or his condescendant laugh. It is real, sincere laughing like Tim has never heard from him before. It is even contagious. Tim starts with a smile, eventually snorts and suddenly finds himself laughing out loud with him.

"That is… the most… ridiculous thing… I have ever… heard," Damian says between giggles. 

Tim needs to hug his own stomach and is desperately trying to remember how to breath. Slowly they begin to get themselves together. Still eventually shaking. Then, the noise of a snore comes out form Damian’s nose and the giggles begin once more.

It is oddly familiar to what the joker gas does to them, but instead of the terrifying feeling of lost of control and near-death experience, this feels like a bolt of energy voltting through their bodies. Things have been so death around the batcave lately, for the last couple of years actually, that the sound of laughter seems to brighten the air around them.

"Is this… some kind of  _joke_ _?”_

Tim takes a few moments to realize it is Dick who is talking. He gets one weird, hilarious, idea that maybe even their big brother can hear them laughing. However, when he looks at the screen he finds a distressed look on the acrobats face.

"What, are you telling me it was  _faked?”_ he hears him yell to a dark haired woman.

Suddenly, the pain in Dick’s face makes the laughter stop. Damian is still giggling, so Tim doesn’t get to hear what the woman is saying.

"Shush, Damian, listen," he says. 

"What is it, Tim —I mean—, Drake?" Damian asks finally putting himself together.

But Tim is not looking or listening to him. He is leaning towards the screen, his nose barely inches away from the image. He is trying to read the e-mails displayed in the lap-top that sits on Dick’s lap. 

"Sonia…" Dick almost pleads. 

That sure gets Damian’s attention. 

Tim curses under his breath. He  _just_  saw it.

"All I know for sure is that he’s  _alive,_ Dick…  _Tony Zucco_ is still alive.”

Before Damian gets to ask who Tony Zucco is, Tim is running towards the stairs.

"We need to tell Babs," Tim says when Damian calls for him, running behind him upstairs. "We need to do something  _now.”_

 _“_ Drake, who  _is_ Tonny Zucco?” Damian demands while Tim pushes the entrance of the batcave desperately.

Tim turns and faces him with death-worried eyes.

"The man who killed the Flying Graysons."

Then, he is gone. Running and yelling and calling for Oracle. 

Damian is stuck on his feet. A cold feeling raising from his toes, to his stomach, to his chest. His heart races. He feels out of his own body. He feels  _scared_  even though he know  _he_ is not endangered.

He fears for his batman. 

It is stupid, because Grayson can easily handle any stupid mobster, right?

 


	5. Things That Change. Things That Don't.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Damian and Steph discuss the current situation of the Batfamily members in either reality.

He wakes up with the smell of waffles. Still yawning, he walks downstair while messing his black hair with his fingers. For a second, before entering the kitchen, he thinks he’ll find Penyworth cooking breakfast for everyone. Then, as he steps into the kitchen, he remembers the butler is actually worlds away. Instead, he finds a girl with purple pajamas and a mess of blonde hair standing over the stove.

"Fatgirl," he greets.

"Good to see some things never change," she replies sarcastically. “You are still a little brat."

 

She turns around a puts a big plate of Waffles on the table.

"And you are still stuffing your bra."

"I think I told you a while ago to stop staring at my chest," she says dryly while giving him a plate and sitting next to him on the table. “Besides, I’m not stuffing my bra. I grew into it. You know I’m twenty one now, right?"

"Whatever you say, Brown."

"And you are almost thirteen."

He looks puzzled but doesn’t answer. Time passes differently in “the other world”, he knows it, but he had never stopped to think how that affected him. He eats his waffles while trying to come to terms with the fact. It’s stupid, he thinks, after everything that’s been going on, to be worried about his age. Stephanie eats silently next to him.

"What is it with you and waffles, anyway?" he asks trying to keep his own mind off the subject.

"I like them."

"tt."

Well, another thing that would never change is Stephanie Brown being a mystery to him. Her logic, simply never makes sense to him. She gives an irrational amount of importance to things like “fun” or “hope”, while completely disregarding concepts he was thought as a baby by his mother.

"Have you seen Oracle?" he asks after a while. "I want to talk to her about advancing with the recuperation codes. Grayson has been handling things exceptionally well. Even Drake is impressed, but he is idiotic and should have known better than freaking out. However, my father is not coping whatsoever. He may need a sooner extradition."

"Babs is sleeping. And you are not going to wake her up," she narrows her eyes, looking at him aggressively.

"It is almost midday," he says,"I am sure she would not—"

"Not. Going. To. Happen," she snaps coldly.

"What do you care, anyway? It is not your problem."

"It is," she corrects him. "Barbara hasn’t been able to sleep very well for the last couple  _years_. It’s been getting worse lately. Tim is not doing better. Pretty much, everyone who has a double in  _the other world_  has the same problem. You, me, Cass, Wally, Donna… we got the better deal. We don’t have doubles.”

"We got the better deal?! WE GOT THE BETTER DEAL?!"

"Don’t shout, you’ll wake her—"

“‘tt’” he snorts, but lowers his voice. “Excuse me if I don’t revel on excitement after I had to experience my own death. Do you have any idea what  _that_  was like?”

The look she gives him, could freeze hell. Her blue eyes go from sky-blue to ice in seconds. For the first time, Damian sees darkness in her face and it brings back memories of Stephanie’s backstory he had completely forgotten.

"Yes, I do."

He chokes down the rest of his waffle, and an apology he’s too proud to say out loud. He chugs down cold milk to help everything down and finally says:

"Alright, maybe we both do. How is that the better deal?"

"We don’t have other lives to spy on in our dreams."

"You are making no sense."

“Does who have doubles see their other lives in their dreams. Imagen it. Kory has to see herself acting as an empty sex-toy who’s going out with one of her dearest and oldest friends. Tim has to see that weird version of himself lose his friends and do other… regrettable choices,” she says bitterly.”But for Barbara, it’s even worse. Every times she goes to bed, she sees the life she could’ve had if the Joker hadn’t…”

She leaves the sentence in the air, looking worried.

“‘tt’ You are just like Drake. You worry too much about stupid things,” Damian snorts.

"You are hopeless," Steph sights with annoyance.

"I thought you were the one to never lose hope," Damian says with a hint of humor while standing up to leave his plate in the sink.

"And I thought you were shorter!" she exclaims jumping to her feet and standing right infront of him. They can almost see eye to eye.

"I do not see the import—"

"Oh my god! You are having a growth," she says with a wide smile. "You are finally going through puberty!"

"No I am not."

"Yes you are. Your voice is probably going to start cracking soon!" her smile widens. 

"No it is not!"

"Yes it is! I only wish Dick was here to see it. Never mind, I’ll record it for him so—"

"You will not do such thing!"

Brown laughs while Damian considers his option.

"I. Will. Hurt you. Brown." he barks.

"Go ahead and try, kiddo," she says without ceasing to laugh. "You couldn’t take me down if you— Babs? What are you doing up so early?"

Damian turns around to find Oracle calmly sitting on the kitchen table. She has stopped tipping but her fingers remain on the keyboard.

"Just hearing some very familiar bickering," she says with a soft smile.

"You should be sleeping. You barely went to bed two hours ago."

"I can’t take it anymore, Steph. Every night it gets darker. Creepier.  _Her_ life is like a horror movie,” her hands finally leave the keyboard for a second too massage her temples, but they soon dart back to the keys and start furiously typing away. “Besides, I’ve got work to do.”

The look Brown darts at Damian is clear.  _If you dare say anything cruel, you’ll regret it._ He was not planning to, anyway. It is clear that Gordon is hiding behind her work to avoid the touchy subject. It is better for his interests that she goes on like that. Then, maybe, they’ll find a solution sooner. _  
_

"Have you found anything interesting?" Damian questions standing behind her.

Her screen, however, is only a bunch of meaningless letters and numbers he can not make sense of. 

"As a matter of fact, yes."

The two younger ones in the room feel the floor suddenly shaking under their feet.

"There’s something big boiling up," Barbara says, her eyes hidden behind the reflection of her screen in her glasses. "I don’t know  _what_. I don’t know  _when_. But there seems to be a big conflict, a war coming. Who ever created this reality, who ever is targeting us, is planning something big.”

"What do you mean ‘something big’?" Steph asks.

"Something that will put them in danger."

“‘tt’ How is  _that_  good?” Damian asks, folding his arms infront of his chest.

"It means they haven’t figure out what we are doing. They haven’t realized we can use this to bring them back," she says with a small and dangerous smile crawling in her lips.

"When?" is all Damian can ask.

"Two or three months from now, maybe."

"Are we ready?"

"We will be."

 


	6. Game Changer.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Something huge is going on in the other side. Can everyone just sit and stare as the other world tumbles down?

"Where is everybody?" Damian asks while walking down the Cave’s stairs.

Eight people “shush” him at the exact same time. Offended, he decides to keep talking.

"Do not patronize me. I will speak if I—"

"Seriously, kid, be quiet," says Wally West while shooting a serious look at him. His mask is down, uncovering ruffled red hair and skin even paler than usual.

 

Everyone else turns back at the screen. He looks at it, but can hardly make up the situation. All he can see is a big crowd. The noise it to much to make out any word and whoever they are looking through moves too much and too fast to recognize anyone.

"What is going on?" he asks.

"I don’t know," Cassandra Cain mumbles, curled in the main chair with everyone around her.

"Whose frequency are we on?" he asks looking at Gordon.

She doesn’t answer. She looks worried. She’s right next to Starfire, but they are not bickering anymore. Both redheads are leaning on towards the screen, with equally fierce and piercing stares.

"Lady Shiva," Drake finally answers. Damian turns around to see him, standing right next to Cain and Brown. He still doesn’t look away from the screen. "Cass was… monitoring her. She called us when she realized something was going on."

"Something?"

"Someone invited all the criminals to a reunion," Brown said with a worried look. "We still don’t know—"

"Silence now," Donna Troy hushes.

Damian even forgets to be offended when he catches a glimpse of the scene. Now he recognizes the faces. Pinguin, scarecrow, two face… everyone is there. But then, he also sees Superman, Wonder Woman and… is that his father? No. It isn’t. Something is off with all of the leaguers. Well, even more wrong than what that world usually is.

"The world is ours," Superman shouts while trowing things to the crowd: Aquaman’s trident, Wonder Womans lasso,  _his cape?_  ”And the Justice League is dead.”

If he isn’t Superman, who is he? Who are they all?

The crowd of villains stands quiet in awe. In the bat cave, the silence is that of horror.

They look at the monitor with pale faces and wide open eyes, as the man who looks exactly like Superman keeps giving a monologue about how the world belongs to them now. About how they’ve killed the Justice League. They just can’t believe it. Their mentors, their friends, their families, could they really be dead?

Damian feels a knot down his stomach. There’s no token for his father. He tries to decide whether that is a good or a bad thing.

Then, Shiva turns around and looks at one of the villains who has finally spoken. They call him Monocle. He screams about them being the Justice League in disguise.

 _That’s it_ , Damian thinks _. They are the Justice League. They are just playing them. They are just_ finally  _setting the villains up instead of waiting for them to do it the other way around. That’s just my father in a different suit. And Wonder Woman. And.._

That’s when the Monocle blows into a million pieces.

Definitively not Superman.

"Did he…?" Stephanie mutters.

"Did he just…?" West echoes.

Damian is used to seeing death, and killings, and blood. But he still feels the world shake and a sudden chill down his spine.

"Oh my god," Drake whispers as Damian turns to look at him. They share a quick worried look before turning back to the screen.

His father. Could he really be dead? He had thought him dead before. But now that he had spent so much time with him, that they knew each other better, he just couldn’t bring himself to believe him dead.

He feels his whole worlds shake.

"Haul him up, Superwoman," Not-Superman orders.

Then, the world begins to fall apart.

"Dick!" Donna screams.

"On your feet, cutie pie," Superwoman says with a smirk as she holds him by the hair.

Grayson spits blood. He’s bruised, cut and semi-unconscious. Damian can feel the whole family stiffen around him.

"They’ve even taken care of Nightwing!" he hears the Riddler say somewhere in the crowd.

"Yes, Nightwing," the woman says, leaning so close to his face that Damian can see both redheads almost ready to jump into the screen just to slap her. "But his real name is Richard Grayson."

The world pauses in a second of complete silence. Then, reality hits them.

"Grayson," Damian mutters to himself.

"No," Cassandra whispers in disbelief.

"K’hal!"

"This can’t be happening," West says grimmly.

"Is that being broadcasted?" Drake says staring at the screens over the villains heads.

"Oh, Dick," Donna whispers sadly.

"We have to do something," Stephanie urges.

"Babs, can you access their system from here?" Drake asks. _  
_

Barbara doesn’t answer. She’s the only one who hasn’t said a word.

"Babs!" Drake repeats.

She finally turns away from the screen. She has a pained look on her face. All the exhaustion Damian had learned about a few weeks earlier seems to have crawled up on her face. She looks almost ten years older than she is. She looks close to tears.

"It’s too late, Tim. There’s nothing we can do," she says with a soft voice, as if trying to comfort him.

She looks painfully defeated. A cold chill settles in everyone in the room. Donna and Kory look furious. Tim and Wally look infinitely worried. Stephanie’s face is still of utter disbelief. Damian has a sudden killing urge he hadn’t felt for months.

"There’s still something we can do," Cassandra says with a calm steady voice that makes everyone turn towards her. "Bring him back."

And with those three words, is like a switch was turned on. They needed a purpose and now they’ve remember they have one. Bring him back. Bring all of them back. The sense of being able to do something brings them suddenly back to life.

"Steph," Gordon says with determination sparkling in her eyes, "it’s about to get  _very_ crowded in here.”

"I’ll start to make the preparatives," she says running up stairs.

"Starfire! Donna!" she shouts next. "Call the Titans!"

Both women fly away without another word.

"Tim, we’ll need as many members of Young Justice as you can find."

Drake nods and runs away.

"Wally, get as many left-behind Leaguers as you can find."

"Sure thing, precious."

He’s gone in a flash.

"Cass…"

"Contacts in Japan," she says standing up.

"Exactly," Barbara lets out a small smirk.

Damian is left alone with Barbara. They both glance at the screen, but Dick is nowhere to be seen.

"So, what is the plan?" Damian finally asks, slightly offended that he wasn’t given a task.

"We are gonna be ready," Barbara says with a fierce look on her face. "We are almost ready to pull him out when the situation is adequate; but if things get any worse,  _we are going in_.”

 _Finally,_ Damian thinks making his knuckles crack,  _some action._

"tt" he lets out with a smirk.

 _We are coming_.


	7. People Leaving And People Coming.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Big changes are coming. Who’s going back to the n52 and who’s staying behind?

"BROWN? YOU ARE SENDING BROWN?"

"Damian, calm down and listen to—"

"Do not tell me to calm down, Drake," he spits before turning his attention back to Gordon. "What do you mean you are sending  _her_?”

"It’s the safest option, Damian," Barbara sights, as if explaining the obvious to a kid. "Stephanie has in no way been connected to the other world, she’s the only one who could keep her memories after the trip."

"But you could send Cain, or Troy, or even West. Why her?"

"Because I know how to kick-ass better than anyone," Stephanie says walking into the kitchen and pouring herself some orange juice. "Besides, what everybody needs over there is some extra-hope and happiness, and that’s  _my_ division.”

"tt" he snorts. "Ridiculous. I could bring hope too."

"Sure, with your killer smile and your baby-assassin skills, you are a little ray of sunshine," Stephanie teases him with a smile.

Damian clenches his fists so hard they start shaking.

"You are going to mess it all up," he grunts grimly.

"Stephanie will do great," Tim steps in."She did a great job as Batgirl before."

"Stop defending your girlfriend, Drake," Damian snaps back, making Tim’s face turn several shades redder. "You have been there. You know what that place does to your mind. You don’t realize it until you come back, how you sink in despair and angst like it was quick sand. How could you let her go there?"

"I—"

Tim’s face looks conflicted. He knows what Damian was talking about. There is no room for hope in that place.

"Ok, kiddo, calm down," Stephanie says, shocked by the darkness that settled over the boys’s faces. "First, nobody is  _letting_ me go (well other that Babs). It’s not your or Tim’s choice. This is my mission now, understood?”

"But, Steph—"

"Sush, Tim, I haven’t finished," she says raising the palm of her hand towards him and turning back towards Damian. "And second," she adds suddenly smiling widely, "I can’t believe you are  _worried_ about me, little D! You do care! I knew it!”

"Shut up. I don’t—"

Stephanie suffocates him with a hug.

"Brown! Brown, unhand me! I am going to hurt you! Drake, stop laughing! Brown, you are too heavy!" he keeps struggling but the girl is stronger than he thought. "Seriously, Stephanie I can’t breath."

She finally lets go. Damian brushes off his clothes with annoyance. He walks to the counter, and pours himself some juice trying to regain his composure.

"What? Don’t I get hug?" Drake asks jokingly.

"Of course you do!"

By the time Damian turns around, Stephanie is suffocating Drake too. They are laughing like dorks and trying to out-hug each other. He drinks his whole glass of juice slowly before shooting them a disapproving look.

"You two are ridiculous," he said with a scowl. "You are supposed to be adults. You should act your age."

They both freeze, still holding each other in a rather awkward and unbalanced position, and shoot him amazed glances. For a second, the whole kitchen falls silent, as Damian gets nervous under their wide-eyed glances.

Then, the other two former robins burst out laughing.

"What?" Damian asks bluntly.

They don’t answer. Tim is hugging his stomach and bending over. Stephanie has fallen to the floor and is just sitting there laughing.

"What?" he demands again.

"Really, Dami," Brown manages to say between giggles, "you are one… to talk… about acting… your age!"

They both start laughing loudly again. Damian blinks a couple times surprised, before letting on a small smile. There was something they were right about, Stephanie had a gift for lightening things up. Maybe she could do it. Against all odds. Maybe she would be able to save everyone. And still…

"No."

"No?" Tim says still giggling. "No what?"

"Brown is not going. Not alone," Damian says with a grim expression crossing his face.

The other two teenagers stop laughing and look at him.

"What do you mean I’m not going?" Stephanie asks getting up. "It’s not up to you, Damian."

"You should not be going like this, alone, to a world you’ve never been to."

She frowns conflicted.

"Besides," Damian adds feeling he’s finally winning the argument, "if anybody should go it is me. It is mostly my family we are talking about. The only one I have left. Bruce is  _my_ father. And Grayson is practically my brother. He is  _my_ Batman. They are both my Batmans. It should be up to me to rescue them. I should not have left on the first place.”

He realizes he spoke too much. The looks he gets from both of them are mostly sad. He hates the pity in them. But he’s willing to do anything to get this mission, even if it means manipulating them. May as well play along with it.

"He is right," a voice from the corner of the room surprises them.

They turn around to find Babs looking at them with a calculating look in her face.

"What?!" Stephanie is the first one to snap out of it. "Babs, this is my mission. You can’t really—"

"I’m not taking the mission away from you, Steph," the redhead interrupts. "But Damian is right. You can’t go alone in there. I don’t like the idea of sending you on your own without back up. We still don’t know how that place might affect you."

"But.."

"No ‘but’s. I have worked in this codes long enough to ensure  _both_ of you get through. Damian is coming with you.”

"He is?" Tim and Steph ask identically surprised.

"I am?"

"Yes, Damian. You are going. Unless you’ve changed your mind…"

"Of course not," he quickly assures her.

"Great, then—"

"I’m coming too," Drake says with resolve.

"You can’t go, Tim."

"Why not?" his face falls.

"Because, if you– "

"We’ve got enough codes."

"No, we–"

"I know it."

"Tim…"

"I helped you develop them.

"Tim!"

"Why can’t I go?!"

"Because you didn’t die!!" She shouts bluntly.

All three of them stare at her wide eyed once more.

"You didn’t die, Tim," she repeats softly. "You separated yourself from your double. You can’t go back, because there’s already a ‘you’ in that dimension."

Tim’s mouth opens and closes repeatedly but no sound comes out of it. He finally lets out a brokenhearted sight, his shoulders and head falling with disappointment.

"I’m so sorry, Tim," Steph says, putting a hand over his shoulder. "I promise I’ll bring them back."

“ _We_  will.” Damian corrects her.

Stephanie rolls here yes.

"Alright, we will. We’ll bring them back. We’ll find Bruce, and Clark, and Connor, and Bart,  _everyone_. I promise we are fixing this, even if it’s the last thing I do.”

"We do."

"Will you stop doing that?"

"tt" the kid snorts. "Oh, this is going to be ‘fun’" he adds with sarcasm.

Stephanie grunts. “And you are not gonna have to stand  _him_  for a while” she adds gesturing at Damian. Tim finally let’s out a small smirk. “But, first things first. We are gonna rescue Dick! Right, Babs?” She asks with an excited smile turning towards her mentor. “Babs?”

The look in the redhead’s eyes is grim and painful.

"We  _are_  saving Grayson, right?” Damian asks with an almost dangerous tone.

"I don’t know," Barbara admits. "The codes are not ready yet. Think about it. Time passes differently over there, and there’s so much stuff going on… I don’t know exactly  _when_  will you be arriving. What I’m trying to say is–”

"We might be too late," Stephanie says frowning.

"No," Tim mutters in disbelief.

"We can’t be too late!" Damian clenches his fists once more. "We will—"

"Barbara!" Cassandra irrupts in the kitchen. She stays in the door, holding to the the wall as if she was ready to run back to where she came from any second.

"Cass? What’s going on?"

"Come down. Quick."

"What is it?" Barbara asks, spinning her wheelchair to turn towards her.

"Jason Todd," Cassandra says before running back to the studio.

Barbara is fast to wheel behind her. The other three former robins stand in shock for a couple seconds. They share a surprised look with each other before dashing behind the two girls.

By the time they make it to the Batcave, Barbara’s personal elevator is arriving as well. There, in the middle of the cave, right in front of the big white void that leads to the other world, is standing Jason Todd. His ebony hair falls over his face wildly, with the white hair strands framing his stormy eyes. In each hand, he holds a gun. He looks furious. 

"Oh, great, the whole gang is here!" he snarks when he spots them, gesturing at them with his guns. "Then maybe somebody can tell me  _what the hell is going on?!”_


	8. The Second Robin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's a former robin recently saved in Batcave. He's just not the one everyone was expecting.

"I  _said,_ what the hell is going on?!" Jason demands again, pointing at them with his guns.

He doesn't look so great to Tim. His helmet is still rolling on the floor, his face is paler than ever, even after coming back from the dead, and his face is covered with thin sweat droplets. Even so, Tim can't find enough worry over him in himself to overlook the fact that he's holding his guns at them,  _in the Batcave,_ clearly not caring about the fact that none of them is wearing kevlar. Tim feels furious, nearly as much as Damian who is so tense he's nearly shaking by his side. He can only hope the kid won't chose to do something stupid, as usual.

"Jason," Tim is the first one to speak, raising his hands in a pacifying manner. "Put the guns down."

"Not until someone explains what the fuck is happening!"

"Look," Steph says, taking half a tentative step forward, "Jason, it's okay. You're okay now." 

Jason immediately points one of his guns at her.

"Who-" He closes his eyes tightly for a moment, then looks at her again. " _Brown?_ "

"Good," she smiles softly, "you're starting to remember."

"Remember what?"

"Todd, put the guns down before I kick your ass!" Damian mutters, clearly loosing his patience. 

"D- Damian? You were dead!"

"Clearly I am not," the kid crosses his arms, "are you?"

"Of course I'm not! I'd  _know_ if it happened again!" Jason snaps. "I just walked out of that damn thing," he points out at the portal on the wall. "Now tell me-"

"Jay," Barbara talks for the first time, wheeling forward. It finally makes him put his guns down.

"Babs..." he murmurs, looking at her. "You are- You're on the chair again..."

"I never stopped being on it, Jason," she says calmly, closing up to him. Despite everyone clearly wishing she didn't, no one tries to stop her. She can take care of herself. "Listen, Jason, three years ago something happened... you guys were all pulled into an alternate reality and..."

She goes on to explain everything that happened, how they don't yet have a clue of who's behind it. She tells him about their plan to bring people back, one by one like they'd done with Damian. He nods along, his face worried but slowly relaxing enough so that the others risk coming closer.

"What I don't understand," Barbara finishes, "is how  _you_ got out?"

Jason frowns for a long moment, as if trying to remember. "I... I think there was some mind erasure thing going on. I forgot everything all at once. When I started remembering, there were things that didn't add up, people, places I'd never been to but I could remember... I felt  _trapped_ inside my head at times, trying to break out... so last night I think I did... Hell if I know," he suddenly jumps, "I'm here now, not thanks to you, by the way!" His voice is suddenly bitter. "Of course no one was trying to get  _me_ out. It's all about Bruce's golden boy. I bet you were all just worried about Dick."

"Jay," Barbara says, though the friendly nickname looses its touch at the underlaying anger in her tone, "it's not like that. The situation is different."

"Of course it is! It always is! Just like Bruce had no problem trying to bring the Demon's Kid back this time," he yells out, pointing at Damian.

"Just the hell up, Todd!" He says, gritting his teeth. "This is not about you!"

"Of course it isn't. It never is!" Jason laughs darkly.

"Jason, you have to stop this," Tim says sternly. "I got out on my own too. It's no one's fault. Right now, we could use your help getting things ready to get Dick out and-"

"I don't think so. You got out, I got out. Let pretty boy find his way back himself," Jason snaps, crossing his arms over his chest. _  
_

Tim was nothing more than hitting him on the head for being so stubborn and bitter, but he knows that's not going to get them anywhere.

"Show him," Cass speaks up for the first time after watching the whole exchange calmly quiet. Jason looks at her, recognizes her, but she ignores his yes, turning to Barbara instead. "Show him," she repeats and points at the dark screen on the wall. 

"That's the monitoring system you were talking about?" Jason asks, walking towards the screen, followed by everyone. "It's off."

"It's not," Barbara deadpans. "That's Dick's channel."

There's a thick silence between them all for a long moment as Barbara sets herself in the controls and starts typing. Jason finally breaks it.

"Is he..."

" _No_ ," Damian replies immediately. "Not yet."

"Try any other channel," Tim leans next to Barbara, discretely putting a hand over her shoulder. "They're replaying it all the time. Anyone, just-"

"Bruce," Jason steps forward too, at Barbara's other side. "Play Bruce."

Tim gives Jason a look that thankfully goes ignored, considering how much it resembles pity. That painful obsession Jason's always had with Bruce, more than any of them, even Damian, is something that has worried Tim more than once. It's been the reason of too many arguments and fights, mostly against Dick...

"I wouldn't have  _brought_ Catwoman if I didn't  _trust_ her," Bruce's voice is heard even before his vision appears on the screen. 

"Well, somethings never change," Jason snorts under his breath.

In the screen, two scientists appear. Everyone is staring at a  _thing-_ no, a  _person,_ or what's left of them, laying on the medical table.

"Vic!" Barbara exclaims, covering her mouth with one hand and looking at the screen horrified. "What happened?!"

Of course, there's no answer as the conversation in the screen continues.

" _They've even taken care of Nightwing! Yes! Nightwing!"_ The recording starts sounding outside of Bruce's line of vision. Everyone except Jason visibly cringes at the words they know all too well by now. " _But his real name is Richard Grayson."_

"What?!" Jason finally reacts, tensing as he straightens up, eyes glued to the screen.

"They've been replaying the same clips all over again," one of the scientist says. They don't see him. Bruce's eyes are still stuck on Dick on the screens. "You haven't seen this Batman?"

"No." Bruce turns to the scientists. Everyone leans in closer, trying to figure out what was going on. They've been waiting for Bruce to find out for days now. "I'm sorry Dr. Stone. If you can stabilize Vic, we need to leave."

"Leave?" Selina says shocked. "It looks pretty safe here."

"I need to find Nightwing."

" _After_ they broadcasted his  _identity?_ This Grayson person is probably  _dead_ ," she says and Tim wants to slam his fists against the monitor more than anything. Selina is stuck there like everyone else, he can't blame her and he knows it, but he also knows she  _knows_ Dick. They are friends, they've worked together, spent christmas together, looked after Bruce and after each other... and now she is acting as if he and his dead meant nothing. 

"We don't know that," Bruce replies firmly.

"Who  _is_ he?"

"A  _friend._ "

"Father is going to get him!" Damian jumps, not able to hide the excitement in his voice. "He surely will succeed! That is good, isn't it?!"

"I'm not sure it is," Barbara says, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Knowing Bruce, he  _will_ save him."

"And how is that bad?" 

"Well, if he doesn't  _die_ there, we can't bring him back," Tim says, hanging his head low.

They were  _so close._

"But-"

Before Damian can go on insisting, another noise makes them jump and turn around. Behind them, the cave's door is opened and the deafening noise of the motorcycle Jason stole echoes loudly around them as his silhouette gets lost in the distance.

They stand watching him go in a defeated silence, anger boiling underneath the surface. They all jump at the next loud sound, Damian smashing his fist against the Robin memorial glass cage that keeps Jason's old uniform. The same damn cage that has been a grim reminder, a luring shadow glooming over every other Robin entering the Batcave of what was really at stake once you put the bright colored clothes on. The loud noise of glass breaking finally makes them all react, as Damian disappears stairs up, muttering quite loudly words he'd never heard a kid his age say before. Tim knows, though, that it isn't Jason who Damian is honestly angry about. It is what was going on on the other side, and how utterly helpless they all are at the moment. Nothing they can do could really stop Bruce from saving Dick if he's set his mind to it. 

"Let him go," Tim says calmly, grabbing Steph's wrist when she starts rushing after him. "He'll be alright." Hopefully. Eventually.

 


	9. Dynamic Duo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A Robin never leaves their Batman behind. Ever.

Since he found out his father was on his way to rescue Grayson, Damian has barely been out of the cave. Brown brings him down sandwiches every now and then, but even when she is too busy planning their imminent incursion back into that dammed world, he doesn't mind. He trained for years to control the hunger in battle, a few extra hours with an empty stomach aren't so bad. He does miss Alfred's attentions, though. He'll be sure they bring him back next, as soon as he's figured a way to bring Grayson back. He doesn't yet understand the way time works, between the real world and that dimension, but he feel like he's been watching for a lifetime. He's had to endure countless hours of watching his fathers make deals with the likes of Lex Luthor and Captain Cold, in his efforts to save Grayson and defeat this evil league he couldn't care less about. If he could, he would've killed them all already, even if his father disapproved. They don't deserve better after what they've done. 

Every now and then, Damian checks on Grayson too, but there are few new things. He's been mostly unconscious —he tells himself. He doesn't know what he'll do if Grayson dies there. He knows it's the best for their plan, but he can't shake off the feeling that something could go wrong and he would be dead for good. He finds himself time and time again wishing Father will save him successfully. Brown and him can figure out a way to bring him back during their mission. One that doesn't involve possibly dying. Stupid as Grayson is, he probably even dies incorrectly. 

All this things he thought about as he waited, and suddenly, it was time.

"Gordon! Drake!" He calls in the intercom as his father enters the villains' hiding place. He doesn't leave the chair, though, his eyes glued at the screen as his father provides the first look at Grayson in days. He looks awful. It's not just the machine attached to his body. He's thin, pale, bloody, beaten... and, worst of all, he looks defeated. His head hangs low, unaware of the new comers. 

"Well, Batman, you've found Nightwing," Luthor announces, as if it wasn't obvious already. 

"Dick?" Damian's father's voice sounds more charged with emotion than ever before. Damian knows the story, he knows Grayson was the first robin to be taken in by Bruce, a first son, in a way. He'd never really been jealous of him, though. He was always too old to be considered "a son", unlike Drake who was only a bit older than him. This is the first time Damian hears that paternal tone in Bruce's voice when talking to Grayson. "Everything is going to be alright. I'm here."

"Batman?" Grayson replies weakly and Damian is sitting on the edge of his sit. He hears the other arriving to the cave and running to the monitor, but he pointedly ignores them.

"I'm sorry I shut you out, all of you. I didn't want you getting hurt. I'm going to get you out of this..." Bruce assures Grayson, brushing back his hair to look at his bruised face. 

This time, Damian's pretty sure even Drake is jealous. Good.

"No, you need to... leave, you need to go..." Grayson mumbles desperately. From the corner of his eye, Damian can see everyone else sharing confused looks. His own eyes don't leave the screen.

There's a loud bang, a metal door closing behind them. Then, a beep that Damian is rather familiar with: a bomb. 

"What  _is_ that?" Selina ask. 

"It's a bomb!" Damian jumps, even if they can't hear him. Idiots.

"A  _countdown,"_ Luthor says just as frustrated as Damian. "This isn't just a fancy pair of handcuffs, Catwoamn. It's a bomb."

Damian jumps to his feet, looks at Gordon urgently.

"What do we do?!"

"We wait to see how it goes down," Barbara says. Her back is tense as she approaches the keyboard and starts typing furiously. "And we are ready for whatever happens."

"Tim, Barbara, get ready."

"Wait! Them? No! I'm going."

"They are the most experienced ones, Damian. I'm not taking any risks," Barbara cuts him off. 

"Everyone quiet," Cass snaps, without really raising her voice. She points at the screen.

"Is the countdown monitoring your heart?" Catwoman asks.

"Yes."

" _Why?"_

"The detonator is hooked into it," there is  _almost_ fear in Bruce's voice.

"Batman, the bomb... it only disarms if my heart  _stops..._ " Dick says, a stern resignation in his voice. "I die, or we all die."

While Bruce and Dick argue, each trying to convince the other to save himself, Damian runs around the cave getting ready. He knows his father, but he knows Grayson's stubbornness all too well. He knows how this will end. 

He hears a fight start on the monitor, as the people in the room obviously argue to save their lives over Grayson's. 

"I can't see a thing!" Tim complains. "Put Dick's signal."

Damian turns around when he hears everyone gasp. In the big monitor, he can see Luthor standing in front of Grayson. It sort of looks like he's- he's smothering him. The sound of the monitor turns into a high pitched ringing. The image blurs. Everyone is still frozen watching, except Damian. 

Before anyone can try stopping him, before it's too late, he runs and jumps into the white light, just as the screen goes dark.

* * *

 

The space between realities is warmer than he expected it to be. He's standing in the middle of a wide white page, like he walked into a light. It makes him shiver slightly.

Suddenly, the empty whiteness, a spot appears. Even from the distance, Damian's sight is sharp and he recognizes Dick's familiar figure in an instant. He immediately starts running towards him. He goes slower than he would hope, the harness he's wearing holding him back. It's uncomfortable but necessary to make sure he can go back to his world once he's got who he came in for.

Grayson is wearing a blue shirt and suddenly the world seems to be  _right,_ to fit the way it's supposed to, rather than that glaring red suit the new world had given Nightwing. His face is calm, slightly confused, looking around as if trying to remember how he got there in the first place. 

"Grayson!" He screams as he approaches the man

"D- Damian..." Dick murmurs. The moment his eyes settle on Damian his lower lip trembles slightly. His eyes water. He rushes forward and, before Damian can speak a word, he Dick hugs him tightly. 

Damian freezes. He can't remember Dick ever hugging him like this. When they started their partnership, they weren't exactly close. Damian had taken a long time to consider Grayson a worthy Batman, and even after their relationship grew closer it'd been mostly out of respect. Dick is a physical person, but growing up Bruce had taught him how to treat Waynes. There had been a few instances, a squeeze on the shoulder, a smile, a hair-ruffle, and every instance  left Damian feeling warm inside, contempt with those small affectionate gestures. This is... different. 

By the time Damian decides to hug back, as tightly as he can, Grayson is already pulling back, and he's left with the unsatisfying feeling of a missed opportunity. 

"You- You were..." Grayson looks at him intensely. "Oh, god,  _I am..._ I'm dead, aren't I?" There's a weird calm to his voice that makes Damian's gut twist. "Bruce is gonna... Oh, Bruce..." 

"You're not dead!" Damian finally finds his voice, clenching his fists by his sides as he looks at him. "And neither am I, Grayson."

"Oh, Damian," Dick tilts his head, looking at him sadly. "I'm so sorry. I couldn't save you."

"Stop! You didn't- You couldn't save me! It's not your fault!" He exclaims and only as the words leave his lips does he realize how much he'd been urging to say them. "None of it is your fault, Grayson. I made my choices."

"You were just a kid, Dami," Grayson sighs.

"I'm not-" Damian pauses, realizing he's going off topic. There'll be time to discuss this later. All of the time. "Grayson, I'm not dead and neither are you," he repeats. "This isn't real."

"What?" Grayson frowns, sadness creeping into his face at the idea of Damian being only a dream.

"That world, the one you were into, it was a fake! Now, we can pull you out! Gordon explains it better!"

"The commissioner?"

"No, Grayson," Damian facepalms. "Oracle. You know, your girlfriend who has been so obnoxiously set on bringing you back."

"My-  _Barbara?_ Oracle?" Dick's frown deepens. "Damian, what are you talking about?"

"There'll be time to explain! Come on, now, Drake and Brown are going to loose patience if I don't bring you back already!"

"Tim? But he's- Wait. Brown... Stephanie? But she isn't... why do I know that name?"

"Yes! You're remembering!" Damian jumps. "You will remember better when we get you back. And then we can bring father!"

"Bruce isn't there?"

"No. He's in that world you were in, come on, Grayson..." he handed him his own rope to hold on to on the way back. 

Dick looks away, over his shoulder, back where he came form. Slowly, he starts to understand. 

"Explain," he asks, calmly, returning his eyes to Damian. 

The kid sighs but goes on to quickly explain everything about the world they had been living in, and how many of them are back home with no idea of what's going on. He talked about Barbara and Cain and Starfire and  West and Troy and all the others names he'd come to know during the past months. How everyone wanted him back to help them get their act together and end this.

When he stopped, Dick was silent for a long time. His voice was heavy when he finally spoke again.

"I can't go, Damian."

"But it's the truth! I swear! Grayson, you have to believe me!"

"I do... I remember," Dick nods slowly. "That's why I can't go. I can't just leave all the others back there, alone. I can't leave Bruce and Alfred there..."

"We'll get them next!"

Dick shakes his head. Behind him, darkness starts creeping onto the white place. They are trying to bring him back.

"We need to hurry up!" Damian urges.

Grayson gets up on his feet and glances back. 

"I'm sorry, Damian."

"Grayson-"

"Someone has to look after them. I will remember. I promise. I'll keep an eye on them until you figure this out."

"But I- We can't! They need your help!"

"They have you, Damian. If I leave now, who will Bruce have? Copies of Tim and Jason and Barbara... he needs something real."

Furiously, Damian grabs on to Dick's clothes, glaring up at the man he'd come to rescue. He can feel the pull of either reality taking them apart as the space between realities ceases to exist once more.

"You can't do this! You need to come back!"

Dick's face is back to that calm resigned-to-death resolution. He bends down and puts a hand over Damian's shoulder.

"You'll do good. I'm sure. I'm very proud of you," he says seriously. "So is your father. You are a great Robin. You know we never leave our Batman behind. He needs me."

_I need you!_ Damian wants to shout back but his throat feels tight and painful. He feels tears pour down his eyes as he holds on tighter to Grayson. Dick grabs his hands and gently makes him let go. 

"Tell Babs I'm sorry," is the last thing Damian hears before he lets go and everything rushes around them. 

As he gets pull back to the real world, realities away, Dick Grayson opens his eyes and takes a desperate gasp for air. 


End file.
